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“If you play a Nickelback song backwards, you’ll hear messages from the devil. Even worse, if you play it forwards, you’ll hear Nickelback.”

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Those stinging words came from a fake Dave Grohl Twitter account.

Or, keeping it real, how about this gem from the Black Keys’ Patrick Carney in Rolling Stone magazine: “Rock ’n’ roll is dying because people became OK with Nickelback being the biggest band in the world. Rock ’n’ roll is the music I feel most passionately about and I don’t like to see it f---ing ruined and spoon-fed down our throats in this watered-down, post-grunge crap, horrendous s—t. When people start lumping us into that kind of s—t, it’s like f—k you, honestly.”

Ouch! Kicks delivered directly into Chad Kroeger’s gonads.

What the hell did Nickelback ever do to deserve the abuse?

Are they that bad, that revolting?

And here’s more from the wonderful world of the web, where everything is fair game, even if it isn’t always fair comment.

“If I want to hear crap, I’ll record myself defecating.”

“Why do I hate them? Because they suck.”

“Nickelback walks into a bar ... there’s no punchline because ruining music isn’t funny.”

“Imagine all of the bands in the ‘90s who were trying to imitate Pearl Jam. Now imagine a band that’s trying to imitate them. That’s Nickelback.”

Piling on Nickelback is trending.

That same-old wall of simple guitar chords and simple lyrics from the clean-cut Canadian kids will be a highlight of Bluesfest when Nickelback plugs in July 9.

“Nickelback is hated because they’re successful,” said Goddo frontman Greg Godovitz. “Most people are simply jealous of that fact. As much as I’m not a fan of their music, it’s obvious Chad has tapped into a large audience doing what he does. You can’t deny or ignore his own particular genius.”

Are they too cool for nerdy music critics? Or not cool enough?

Does selling too many records make them un-cool?

Does every song really sound the same?

Look back at the history of rock ’n’ roll.

Formulaic guitar riffs are nothing new.

When you listen to Sweet Home Alabama or You Shook Me All Night Long, do you really care that they’re written with just three chords? It shouldn’t matter — they’re rock ’n’ roll brilliance.

Was Boston’s debut album any less brilliant because subsequent efforts followed the same formula?

Didn’t The Kinks use the chords in You Really Got Me over and over again?

How about Steve Miller?

Guitar-layered melodies that run from one song to the other has made millions of dollars for Bon Jovi.

But there is no group of musicians as despised as Nickelback, who inspired a petition to try and prevent them from playing an NFL halftime show in Detroit last Thanksgiving. Fifty-five thousand people signed.

Nickelback is not on my iPod playlist, which is heavily dominated by Foo Fighters these days, but I don’t dislike them.

I don’t understand the hatred. They have an ear for what sells records. Is that a lack of artistic integrity?

But then again, I suppose the Nickelback boys don’t really care as long as they’re filling their piggybanks.